第二十七回 · 解屍脫命 The Corpse-Trick — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

解屍脫命 The Corpse-Trick

三sān藏zàng正zhèng在zài此cǐ羞xiū慚cán，行xíng者zhě又yòu發fā起qǐ性xìng來lái，掣chè鐵tiě棒bàng，望wàng妖yāo精jīng劈pī臉liǎn一yí下xià。那nà怪guài物wù有yǒu些xiē手shǒu段duàn，使shǐ個gè「解jiě屍shī法fǎ」，見jiàn行xíng者zhě棍gùn子zi來lái時shí，他tā卻què抖dǒu擻sǒu精jīng神shén，預yù先xiān走zǒu了le，把bǎ一yí個gè假jiǎ屍shī首shǒu打dǎ死sǐ在zài地dì下xià。諕xià得de個gè長zhǎng老lǎo戰zhàn戰zhàn兢jīng兢jīng，口kǒu中zhōng作zuò念niàn道dào：「這zhè猴hóu著zhuó然rán無wú禮lǐ，屢lǚ勸quàn不bù從cóng，無wú故gù傷shāng人rén性xìng命mìng。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「師shī父fù莫mò怪guài，你nǐ且qiě來lái看kàn看kàn這zhè罐guàn子zi裡lǐ是shì甚shén東dōng西xī？」沙shā僧sēng攙chān著zhe長zhǎng老lǎo，近jìn前qián看kàn時shí，那nǎ裡lǐ是shì甚shén香xiāng米mǐ飯fàn，卻què是shì一yí罐guàn子zi拖tuō尾wěi巴ba的de長cháng蛆qū；也yě不bú是shì麵miàn觔jīn，卻què是shì幾jǐ個gè青qīng蛙wā、癩lài蝦há蟆má，滿mǎn地dì亂luàn跳tiào。長zhǎng老lǎo才cái有yǒu三sān分fēn兒er信xìn了le。三sān藏zàng正zhèng在zài此cǐ羞xiū惭cán，行xíng者zhě又yòu发fā起qǐ性xìng来lái，掣chè铁tiě棒bàng，望wàng妖yāo精jīng劈pī脸liǎn一yí下xià。那nà怪guài物wù有yǒu些xiē手shǒu段duàn，使shǐ个gè「解jiě尸shī法fǎ」，见jiàn行xíng者zhě棍gùn子zi来lái时shí，他tā却què抖dǒu擞sǒu精jīng神shén，预yù先xiān走zǒu了le，把bǎ一yí个gè假jiǎ尸shī首shǒu打dǎ死sǐ在zài地dì下xià。諕xià得de个gè长zhǎng老lǎo战zhàn战zhàn兢jīng兢jīng，口kǒu中zhōng作zuò念niàn道dào：「这zhè猴hóu着zhuó然rán无wú礼lǐ，屡lǚ劝quàn不bù从cóng，无wú故gù伤shāng人rén性xìng命mìng。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「师shī父fù莫mò怪guài，你nǐ且qiě来lái看kàn看kàn这zhè罐guàn子zi里lǐ是shì甚shén东dōng西xī？」沙shā僧sēng搀chān着zhe长zhǎng老lǎo，近jìn前qián看kàn时shí，那nǎ里lǐ是shì甚shén香xiāng米mǐ饭fàn，却què是shì一yí罐guàn子zi拖tuō尾wěi巴ba的de长cháng蛆qū；也yě不bú是shì面miàn觔jīn，却què是shì几jǐ个gè青qīng蛙wā、癞lài虾há蟆má，满mǎn地dì乱luàn跳tiào。长zhǎng老lǎo才cái有yǒu三sān分fēn儿er信xìn了le。

逐句解 Line by line

三sān藏zàng正zhèng在zài此cǐ羞xiū慚cán，行xíng者zhě又yòu發fā起qǐ性xìng來lái，掣chè鐵tiě棒bàng，望wàng妖yāo精jīng劈pī臉liǎn一yí下xià。三sān藏zàng正zhèng在zài此cǐ羞xiū惭cán，行xíng者zhě又yòu发fā起qǐ性xìng来lái，掣chè铁tiě棒bàng，望wàng妖yāo精jīng劈pī脸liǎn一yí下xià。

While Tripitaka sat there in his shame, Pilgrim, his temper flaring up again, whipped out the iron cudgel and struck the fiend a blow full in the face.

Note the order of events. The master is still red with humiliation when the second blow falls, and the narrator is explicit about the motive: 發起性來, his temper flared up again. This is not the cool execution of a judgement. 劈臉一下 is a blow brought straight down at the face. Whatever the rightness of it, what the elder sees is a man in a rage killing a woman.

那nà怪guài物wù有yǒu些xiē手shǒu段duàn，使shǐ個gè「解jiě屍shī法fǎ」，見jiàn行xíng者zhě棍gùn子zi來lái時shí，他tā卻què抖dǒu擻sǒu精jīng神shén，預yù先xiān走zǒu了le，把bǎ一yí個gè假jiǎ屍shī首shǒu打dǎ死sǐ在zài地dì下xià。那nà怪guài物wù有yǒu些xiē手shǒu段duàn，使shǐ个gè「解jiě尸shī法fǎ」，见jiàn行xíng者zhě棍gùn子zi来lái时shí，他tā却què抖dǒu擞sǒu精jīng神shén，预yù先xiān走zǒu了le，把bǎ一yí个gè假jiǎ尸shī首shǒu打dǎ死sǐ在zài地dì下xià。

But the monster had arts of its own, and worked a Corpse-Liberation spell: seeing Pilgrim's cudgel coming, it braced its spirit and slipped away in advance, leaving a false corpse struck dead upon the ground.

And here is the machine the whole episode runs on. 解屍法 (jiě shī fǎ), the Corpse-Liberation method, lets the demon slip out of her body a fraction before the blow lands and leave a lifeless double behind to take it. Her 元神, her spirit, walks away; a dead woman stays on the path. A stunt double who is also a decoy. This is why nothing Wukong does can settle anything — every blow he lands kills a shell, and every shell looks exactly like a murder. (那 points, nà; 棍子 takes the toneless zi.)

諕xià得de個gè長zhǎng老lǎo戰zhàn戰zhàn兢jīng兢jīng，口kǒu中zhōng作zuò念niàn道dào：「這zhè猴hóu著zhuó然rán無wú禮lǐ，屢lǚ勸quàn不bù從cóng，無wú故gù傷shāng人rén性xìng命mìng。」諕xià得de个gè长zhǎng老lǎo战zhàn战zhàn兢jīng兢jīng，口kǒu中zhōng作zuò念niàn道dào：「这zhè猴hóu着zhuó然rán无wú礼lǐ，屡lǚ劝quàn不bù从cóng，无wú故gù伤shāng人rén性xìng命mìng。」

The elder, frightened out of his wits, trembled and muttered a prayer: "This monkey is truly beyond all manners! Time and again I counsel him, and he will not heed — killing a person's life for no cause at all."

著然 is "truly, flagrantly", and its 著 is read zhuó, on the pattern of 著實 (zhuó shí), "really, genuinely" — one more job for a character that has already been zhe and zháo elsewhere in this chapter. What matters more is the gap the sentence opens up. He sees a woman struck dead for no reason. We see a fiend who has just escaped. Neither of them is lying, and that is the whole tragedy in a single line. (諕 is xià, with the toneless de after it; 口中 takes 中 as zhōng.)

行xíng者zhě道dào：「師shī父fù莫mò怪guài，你nǐ且qiě來lái看kàn看kàn這zhè罐guàn子zi裡lǐ是shì甚shén東dōng西xī？」行xíng者zhě道dào：「师shī父fù莫mò怪guài，你nǐ且qiě来lái看kàn看kàn这zhè罐guàn子zi里lǐ是shì甚shén东dōng西xī？」

Said Pilgrim, "Don't take it amiss, Master — just come and see what's in this jar."

Wukong does not argue. He offers evidence: come and look in the jar. It is the right move, and for a moment it very nearly works. (甚 is shén; 罐子 takes the toneless zi.)

沙shā僧sēng攙chān著zhe長zhǎng老lǎo，近jìn前qián看kàn時shí，那nǎ裡lǐ是shì甚shén香xiāng米mǐ飯fàn，卻què是shì一yí罐guàn子zi拖tuō尾wěi巴ba的de長cháng蛆qū；沙shā僧sēng搀chān着zhe长zhǎng老lǎo，近jìn前qián看kàn时shí，那nǎ里lǐ是shì甚shén香xiāng米mǐ饭fàn，却què是shì一yí罐guàn子zi拖tuō尾wěi巴ba的de长cháng蛆qū；

Sha Monk helped the elder up, and when they came near to look — where was any fragrant rice? It was a jar full of long, tail-dragging maggots;

The illusion comes off the food, even though it never comes off her face. Where was the fragrant rice? A jar of long maggots trailing their tails. Two instances of 長 sit a few characters apart and take different readings: 長老, the elder, is zhǎng; 長蛆, long maggots, is cháng. 那裡是 is rhetorical — where is there any? — so nǎ lǐ, and 甚 here means "any". 攙著 is Sha Monk holding the old man up by the elbow, with 著 as zhe.

也yě不bú是shì麵miàn觔jīn，卻què是shì幾jǐ個gè青qīng蛙wā、癩lài蝦há蟆má，滿mǎn地dì亂luàn跳tiào。也yě不bú是shì面miàn觔jīn，却què是shì几jǐ个gè青qīng蛙wā、癞lài虾há蟆má，满mǎn地dì乱luàn跳tiào。

and no wheat-gluten either, but a few green frogs and warty toads, hopping every which way over the ground.

And the gluten is frogs and toads, going in all directions at once. The reading worth catching is 蝦 in 癩蝦蟆: here it is há, part of the word for a toad, not the xiā that means a shrimp. The 觔 of 麵觔 is the same variant of 筋 that turned up in 觔斗, a somersault. This is as hard as evidence gets — four people watching amphibians hop out of a packed lunch.

長zhǎng老lǎo才cái有yǒu三sān分fēn兒er信xìn了le。长zhǎng老lǎo才cái有yǒu三sān分fēn儿er信xìn了le。

Only then did the elder come to believe it — some thirty per cent.

The funniest and saddest line in the chapter. Maggots. Toads. Four witnesses. And the elder comes round to the extent of three parts in ten. Chinese measures belief in tenths like this, and the narrator's precision is deadpan. Thirty per cent is not enough. Bajie will need one short speech to take it back off him. (The 兒 of 三分兒 is the small toneless tag.)

總評 Commentary

This passage introduces the mechanism that makes the whole three-part episode possible: the 解屍法, by which the demon sheds a lifeless decoy and walks away in spirit while a false body takes the blow. That is why Wukong's blows resolve nothing — each kills a shell — and why the master, seeing a woman struck dead, can read it only as murder. The device turns the conflict into a cruel machine: true sight strikes, and produces a corpse.

Against the illusion the narrator sets hard sensory proof. Opened, the jar holds not rice and gluten but long maggots and warty toads — the disguise stripped from the food as it could never be stripped from her face. For a moment the evidence tells, and the elder believes it: three parts in ten, the narrator records, with a straight face. That meagre, provisional fraction is the whole pathos of the scene. Even maggots buy only a partial belief, and a partial belief is no defence at all.

The passage also holds Wukong's rightness and his error in one frame. He strikes in flaring temper, which the elder cannot help seeing as wanton — and then immediately produces the proof that vindicates him. Right in substance, rash in manner. It is the pattern that destroys him.